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The Battle of Kursk - IV: Control of the Eastern Front - Extra History (Patreon)

Published:
2016-03-28 14:35:14
Edited:
2018-05-15 03:20:18
Imported:
2022-01

Content

Though it only lasted 12 days, the Battle of Kursk was the largest tank battle ever. And it turned the tide of World War II.

Files

The Battle of Kursk - IV: Control of the Eastern Front - Extra History

*Sponsored* by Wargaming! Download World of Tanks: http://bit.ly/1PzXXIU Twelve days of ferocious battle wore both sides down to the bone. Each German push was met with a Soviet counterattack in places like Ponyri and Prokhorovka, until finally the Allied invasion of Sicily forced Hitler to recall his troops. --- (Episode details below) Support Extra History on Patreon! http://bit.ly/EHPatreon Subscribe for new episodes every Saturday! http://bit.ly/SubToEC Watch the full Kursk series: http://bit.ly/1TL1FWr Grab your Extra Credits gear at the store! http://bit.ly/ExtraStore Play games with us on Extra Play! http://bit.ly/WatchEXP Talk to us on Twitter (@ExtraCreditz): http://bit.ly/ECTweet Follow us on Facebook: http://bit.ly/ECFBPage Get our list of recommended games on Steam: http://bit.ly/ECCurator ____________ Why doesn't this series use the Nazi swastika symbol? James explains: http://bit.ly/1Pzy1k5 ____________ German divisions had not expected the level of resistance they met from the Soviets, and their planned advance was behind schedule. At the same time, the Soviets were concerned by the breaches in their first level of defense and by the Tiger tanks which so decisively outgunned their T-34. Fighting on the north side of the Kursk salient came to focus on the small Russian town of Ponyri, where the Germans saw an opportunity to break through and encircle the Soviet defenders. But every time they took control, the Soviets countered and took it back, until finally it became clear that they would never hold Ponyri and could only hope to divert troops from reinforcing the Soviet line elsewhere. But in the south, General Vatutin of the USSR had come up with a clever strategy: he literally buried his T-34 tanks up to the turrets, making them fortified anti-tank guns whose small profile negated the range advantage of the Tiger. His methods were extremely effective, but the Germans continued to fight forward inch by bloody inch. The Soviets needed to hold until reinforcements arrived. An attempted counterattack failed, but managed to slow the Germans, as did the sudden arrival of rainy weather that bogged down their materiel. In the midst of this, the brutal war criminals in the SS Division fought on with a ferocity best exemplified by Joachim Krüger, who once ripped off his pants to escape a smoke grenade and charged bare-assed at a Russian tank. But this wild back and forth could not continue. On July 12, 1943, the Germans sought a decisive outcome through a hard push at Prokhorovka. They did not get it, and the tides quickly turned against them. The Allies invaded Sicily, pressuring Hitler. He gave the command to withdraw the troops at Kursk, over his commanders' objections. His general, Erich von Manstein, attempted one final assault just as Stalin's long-planned counterattack rolled out in full force. The Soviets routed the Germans and collapsed their Eastern Front. Over the course of the war, they continued to push the German forces back - all the way to Berlin in 1945. ____________ ♫ Get the intro music here! http://bit.ly/1EQA5N7 *Music by Demetori: http://bit.ly/1AaJG4H ♫ Outro music provided courtesy of Wargaming! "Reading 'Stars and Stripes'" by Sergey Khmelevsky http://bit.ly/1Oak2wZ

Comments

paul staber

On the topic of tanks I rather liked the design choices made by the russians and germans to counter the T-34 the Germans spent massive recorces designing all new super advanced tanks (the Panther and tiger) but when it came time to counter the those new tanks the russians just put a bigger turret in the t-34 to fit a bigger gun and boom the t-34 is back in the game or rather the T-34-85

Anonymous

No body wants to fight the man without pants. It's how the Celts pushed back the Romans.

Anonymous
>>1562581

I believe you're thinking of the Gaesatae, Gauls and Picts specifically, there?

Anonymous

I do believe so although my l knowledge of the specifics is embarrassingly weak.

Jim McGeehin

The political victory of this battle is almost as good as the strategic one. Hitler had been aiming to use a victory in the Eastern Front to prove to his allies that they shouldn't abandon the war effort, and the loss here meant that Germany had to bear the burden of the crumbling Eastern Front and the soon-to-be crumbling Italian theater, and the message of Axis strength Hitler had been hoping to display would never come. And just as important, this was the first time a major German offensive had been stopped before it reached strategic depth. Now, Stalin was the one with the powerful message: "The German army's strategy is no longer invulnerable." It was proof of concept that the until-now invincible blitzkrieg could be beaten. One important thing is that the Russians launched a two-pronged counter-offensive. The northern movement, Operation Kutznov, is the first part, while the second, in the south, was launched in August after the Soviets could repair after the devastating losses of Citadel. Stalin knew he had a manpower advantage and he was not afraid to use it, forcing the Germans into holding multiple fronts, forcing them back to protect their supply lines and overwhelming them by sheer mass. This was Verdun writ large. We also see the heavy toll that Stalin's attrition campaign left on the Soviet Union. Stalin lost almost 850,000 in irrevocable casualties throughout the Kursk campaign, from Citadel through Kharkov, lasting from 5 July to 23 August (for comparison, the 9-month Verdun campaign of WWI had similar losses from the French and Germans put together, depending on the estimates). The vehicle losses, even at their lowest estimates, are around 40% during Kursk itself and much, much higher during the two counter attacks, with Operation Kutznov suffering over 100% vehicle losses, meaning cannibalized and repaired vehicles were sometimes destroyed twice.